Traffic

Berenice Abbott, Seventh Avenue Looking South (1935)

Beppe Giacobbe, from Clang! Clang! Beep! Beep: Listen to the City (2009)

Animaux

The elegant animal display by Rojan

in

ABC du Père Castor, 1936

Private tour

Scaf the Seal, 1936

Illustrated by Rojan (Feodor Rojankovsky)

Because a seal is truly your best guide to the sights

of the Arctic Circle.

10 and up

I've just ordered Chip Kidd's new book, Go.

Labeled for readers '10 and Up', it's already a bestseller. I have no doubt it will be as

pleasing to the eye as the other Kidd books I have on my shelf.

He is a serious designer, but in interviews and presentations he's always 

so funny and witty.

Mr. Men and Little Miss

While looking for Mr. Right, no doubt you'll run into Mr. Clumsy, Mr. Cool and Mr. Forgetful.

There's a Mr. Men or Little Miss that describe each of us, thanks to the lasting appeal of Roger Hargreaves library of paperback books.

iam8bit

celebrates Hargreaves beloved characters with a gallery exhibition of 50 artists and their versions of the Mr. Men & Little Miss universe.

Drawing emotion

It's not surprising that so many books illustrated by the great Garth Williams are

classics. In his delicate pencil and graphite drawings, he was able to convey so much emotion, bringing the relationships of the characters to full life.

 Charlotte's Web

 Bedtime for Frances

 Little House in the Big Woods

The Cricket in Times Square

Stamp collecting

Delightful Roald Dahl stamps issued by the Royal Mail.

Quentin Blake's charming and essential  illustrations are inseparable from Dahl's stories.

Seated Moomintroll

You got Moomins on my Alvar Aalto! 

 Noooooo, you got Alvar Aalto on my Moomins!

First

From 1967,  Boys and Girls First Dictionary by John Travaskis & Robin Hyman,

illustrated by John Seares Riley

Lovely

Stay gold, Ponyboy, stay gold.

Nothing sparkly can stay.

—S.E. Hinton, The Outsiders

S.E (Susan Eloise) Hinton was 17 years old when she

wrote The Outsiders, a young adult novel based on the rival gangs at her

school. First published in 1967, it has never gone out of print and has sold 

over 14 million copies.

In 1983, a film adaptation was directed by Francis Ford Coppola. 

The cast was notable: Tom Cruise before Risky Business, Ralph Macchio before 

The Karate Kid, Emilio Estevez and Rob Lowe before the Brat Pack, 

Patrick Swayze before Dirty Dancing. 

Yan Nascimbene

I was so sad to hear that Yan Nascimbene passed away this month.

Watercolor requires great precision and agility, but the delicate light and

refined layout of Yan's watercolor paintings made them truly magical.

Yan Nascimbene

1949-2013

Lionni

 Painter

 Sculptor

 Photographer

Accordion player

Designer, art director, editor, critic, writer, artist, dad: there's a lot to adore and admire
in the amazingly prolific and joyfully expressive life of Leo Lionni.


(I love the baggy pants, the beret, the loafers, the chukka boots and the thick glasses too!)

Live your life

Shortly before he died, Maurice Sendak was interviewed by Terry Gross for her NPR show, Fresh Air. Sendak was unusually emotional, recalling lost friends, his love for nature and that he was a 'happy old man'. Illustrator Christoph Niemann who was listening, was inspired to animate the poignant close of the interview.

 

Polymath

Artist-writers, painter-musicians, politician-poets, painter-writer-filmmakers...I admire those talents that have broad interests and numerous subjects of proficiency. The nerve of it! The verve of it! I've been following the work of Oliver Jeffers since his first children's book, he just gets better and more interesting with time.

 

Bear Despair

I love a good wordless book.

Bear Despair by French author/illustrator Gaëtan Dorémus

Never, ever take away a bear's teddy bear!

Complete delight

Maira Kalman was the speaker for the October 2012 CreativeMornings/New York.





 

Stone-faced

It's a good thing that Miroslav Sasek's 'This is' series (New York, Paris, Great Britain, Ireland, Hong Kong and others) has been reprinted and available to a new generation. Hopefully my favorite of his titles will follow suit. Stone Is Not Cold  (1961) imagines great sculpture in ordinary settings.